Study on electrical properties of droplet networks for the development of biological batteries

Abstract

It is known that an electric current flows when ion-selective membrane proteins are inserted into the droplet interface bilayers (DIB). However, no method has been developed to control this current; therefore, we attempted to control the ionic current through the droplet network using carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which also have ion-selectivity. As a preliminary step, we have formed the DIB by binding droplets in lipids, and investigated the correlation between the membrane area and the capacitance of lipid bilayers in this research. The results show that there is a strong correlation between the membrane area and the capacitance, which verifies the usefulness of the experimental system. We have also measured the conductance of CNTs. A bimodal histogram has been obtained for the conductance indicating the insertion of CNTs into the lipid bilayer.